[Here we will return to our conversation about the journey of the aliʻi, ʻUmi, around the island of Hawaiʻi, as they arrived at the boundary between Hāmākua and Hilo.]

Kōī was then ordered by the ʻUmi to go and kill Paiea, just as Kōī had requested of the Aliʻi [after their surfing competition]. He then immediately went off to Paiea’s residence ma uka of Laupāhoehoe, and there Paiea was put to death. Kōī then continued on to massacre those of Hilo who had stood against ʻUmi when he competed with Paiea in their surfing contest.

The Aliʻi ʻUmi and his traveling companions arrived at Waipunalei, the place of residence of Kaleiokū. Kaleiokū had constructed a Heiau there with his Aliʻi during their days of living in destitution, [but it had not been consecrated with a human offering]. Now that Hawaiʻi had come under the control of ʻUmi, Paiea would be the one to be placed on that Heiau as an offering. Kaleiokū conducted the ceremonies there until they were complete. It is there that Kaleiokū established and solidified ʻUmi’s governance of Hawaiʻi. [Dear reading companions, according to the kamaʻāina of Waipunalei and Laupāhoehoe, Mamala is the name of that heiau constructed by Kaleiokū. The heiau still stands today in the ʻāina of Haʻakoa at the top of the pali on the Kohala side of Laupāhoehoe valley, peering down towards the famous point of that lush valley. Author’s Note]

They all stayed there for some time before continuing on their journey around the island. They traveled around the entire island of Hawaiʻi until they reached back at Waipiʻo, where their circuit had begun. This journey took them two Kau (the dryer season, made up of six lunar months) and two Hoʻoilo (the wetter season, also made up of six lunar months), approximately two years, to complete. During their circuit around the island, Kaleiokū pointed out the boundaries of each and every ʻāina, including those of all the districts of Hawaiʻi. During this time, the Aliʻi witnessed with his own eyes the great joy of all the people around Hawaiʻi when they saw him and rejoiced in knowing that ʻUmi was their new Aliʻi.

Dear reader, let us now set aside this moʻolelo for the time being so that this humble writer may clearly explain the reason for this moʻolelo being unfolded and spread out again before us. Some have asked, “Why are you re-publishing this old story about ʻUmi-a-Līloa?” And here is my response: According to one of the famous writers of moʻolelo of Hawaiʻi, Joseph M. Poepoe, “Expertise in the moʻolelo of your motherland is the foundation of knowledge upon which we can make a firm political stance and fight for the pono of our governance.” Furthermore, Poepoe urges us, “Stand, all of you, at the roadway, and look forth and ask of the old traditions, ‘Which is the right way?’ Oh nation, how are we to ask of ourselves the right way, if we are not well-versed in the old moʻolelo of our ʻĀina Aloha?” (Ka Naʻi Aupuni, Jan. 17, 1906) From these wise words of Poepoe, we know that our political stance is strengthened with knowledge of the traditions of our brilliant ancestors. It is as though the ancestral moʻolelo of our native homeland are like stones that we stack together to make firm the foundation for our house of governance. The continuum of our historical record is of great importance to the builders of our nation, and because of this, the keepers of our moʻolelo were imbued with great kuleana in the days of old. According to P. W. Kaawa, moʻolelo involve “searching and reflecting, like looking in a mirror. ‘This is how so-and-so established their governance, which made pono their reign as an aliʻi.’ And if the aliʻi listened well to the words of the Haku Moʻolelo, life would come to them. But if their words were disregarded, death was sure to fall upon the aliʻi” (Ka Nupepa Kuokoa Dec. 23, 1865). When we search and look towards the ancestral traditions and pathways of our beloved ʻāina of Hawaiʻi, like looking in a mirror, it can clearly be seen that our ancestral traditions (kuamoʻo ʻōlelo) form the backbone (iwikuamoʻo) of the body politic for the Hawaiian nation. If the kuamoʻo is strong, the body stands firm. It is for this reason that moʻolelo about the establishment of pono governance were composed, cherished, and cared for by the people of old for us, the growing offspring of the lāhui aloha ʻāina. The moʻolelo of ʻUmi is one of these important stories for coming to understand what a pono government (aupuni) is. According to another famous scholar of Hawaiʻi, Samuel M. Kamakau, “When the aupuni of Hawaiʻi was united (kuapapa nui) by ʻUmi-a-Līloa, his name became famous from Hawaiʻi to Kauaʻi. There was no chief who had governed as he did.” Furthermore, Kamakau wrote about the ways in which ʻUmi established this aupuni: “During ʻUmi-a-Līloa’s reign, he organized the practitioners of each and every occupation and craft in the aupuni, and separated them out by specialization. He separated out the class of aliʻi, the class of kahuna, the class of kilo (celestial observers), and those skilled in the knowledge of the land. He separated out the farmers and fishers, and the canoe carvers. He separated out the warriors and those skilled in the martial arts. They attended to each and every craft with great skill, and each and every practitioner took great care in their work. And so it was also with the kiaʻāina (governors), the ʻokana (district) chiefs, the ahupuaʻa chiefs, and ʻiliʻāina chiefs; they were all trained as experts” (Ke Au Okoa. Dec. 1, 1870). Because of ʻUmi’s system of organizing and establishing in place (hoʻonoho papa) the expert practitioners of the land, the Hawaiian nation became a people with kuleana for each and every craft and also for each and every ʻāina in Hawaiʻi. That is how that aupuni became kuapapa (united, peaceful, stable). The aupuni that is kuapapa is a pono aupuni because it stands upon a foundation that is built by the noho papa (people established in place for generations), the makaʻāinana and the konohiki, that is, of the ʻāina. In this form of nation building, the noho papa of the ʻāina bring with them their experience and their moʻolelo, as if each of them carries stones with them, which are stacked together in great numbers (kuapapa) to form a foundational platform. It is then upon this kuapapa foundation that the aupuni kuapapa (unified government) is built. Such is the manner in which ʻUmi built the aupuni.The process of kuapapa (uniting in peace, stacking together) an aupuni is different from the process of conquering an aupuni (naʻi aupuni). The moʻolelo of the of conquest (naʻi) of the aupuni has become famous and very well-known here in Hawaiʻi. “Ka Naʻi Aupuni” (The Conqueror of the Nation) was a name given to Kamehameha I, because of his naʻi (conquest) of the aupuni of this entire archipelago under his control. “Naʻi” (conquest, striving to obtain) was the primary work of Kamehameha I and his battle leaders in their building of the aupuni, through warfare and diplomacy. And while Ka Naʻi Aupuni did, in many ways, “naʻi” a pono aupuni for these Hawaiian Islands, the foundation of that aupuni was not built by Ka Naʻi Aupuni himself. It was his predecessors who solidified the foundation for his naʻi (conquest) of the aupuni in each and every district and island in this archipelago. It was ʻUmi on Hawaiʻi, Kakaʻalaneo on Maui, Māʻilikūkahi on Oʻahu, and Manokalanipō on Kauaʻi who organized and established in place the people who aloha ʻāina in each and every place. And it was the people, the aloha ʻāina, who established the firm foundation for their aupuni with the works of their own hands. The foundation is first, then it is built upon. An aupuni cannot be made pono if it is only the aliʻi who “naʻi” (conquer, strive for) it. In a speech given by Davida K. Kahalemaile in 1871 about Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea, he spoke about the meaning of the word “aupuni” in Hawaiʻi, as such: “The meaning of the word aupuni refers to the chiefs and the common people coming together to deliberate and enact a set of laws for themselves. This unified body is called an Aupuni” (Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Aug. 12, 1871). Therefore, an aupuni cannot be built by the chiefs alone. Just as the chiefs are chiefs because of the people, so too is the aupuni an aupuni because of the people. According to the traditions of old, the ʻāina creates the foundation upon which the people are born. Then the people create the foundation upon which the chiefs are born. And last, the chiefs create the foundation upon which the aupuni is born. That is the genealogy of the aupuni that was made kuapapa by ʻUmi, and this moʻolelo stands as a mirror for us, the lāhui Hawaiʻi, as we seek out a pono pathway for the rebuilding of an independent aupuni for Hawaiʻi in this new era. Therefore, oh proud descendants of the one for whom this moʻolelo is written, we shall continue this moʻolelo from the ancestral lands of Hāmākua next month. This moʻolelo is like a steadfast stone, and this kamaʻāina of Hāmākua Hikina offers it here for us to stack upon the foundation we are building to bring about a kuapapa form of governance. This moʻolelo is an old kuamoʻo (tradition, pathway) of our ʻāina, and it can surely enlighten us in our conscious struggle for the pono of our nation and for the ea (life, sovereignty, independence) of our beloved ʻāina.​By Noʻeau Peralto, AuthorKoholālele, Hāmākua, Hawaiʻi​March 16, 2016

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About the story...

"He Moolelo no Umi" is one of the earliest known published versions of the story of ʻUmi-a-Liloa, the great chief of Hāmākua, Hawaiʻi. The version of this story that is republished and translated here was first published by Simeon Keliikaapuni and J. H. Z. Kalunaaina in 1862, in the Hawaiian language newspaper called Ka Nupepa Kuokoa. After Keliikaapuni & Kalunaaina published "He Moolelo no Umi," similar versions of this important moʻolelo were published and republished in newspapers by a number of others throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Our kūpuna clearly valued this moʻolelo and the lessons it imbued upon each generation who learned it. We, in the same spirit that inspired our kūpuna to retell this moʻolelo, represent it here, in both its original language and in english, so that our generation and the many generations to come may derive knowledge from the important lessons held within this moʻolelo. And so that we, kamaʻāina of Hāmākua, may find pride in the deep cultural heritage and history of our beloved homelands, the birthplace of this great chief, ʻUmi-a-Līloa.

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